Crash Into Me
by mdelpin
Summary: Erza's plans of a nice team picnic are dashed by Natsu and Gray's antics. Too bad neither one of them knows how to steer a hot air balloon... Gratsu Week 2019 Day 3: Flying


Gratsu Week 2019, Gratsu Bingo 2019

Prompt: Flying

Disclaimer: All Fairy Tail Characters belong to Hiro Mashima

"Oh for Mavis' sake, will you just make a move already?" Erza muttered in exasperation as she watched the painfully obvious longing on Gray's face as he and Natsu engaged in one of their never-ending arguments.

"I know, right? It's ridiculous," Lucy rolled her eyes as she watched their friends from the relative safety of their table.

"Natsu loooooooves him," Happy commented from his spot next to Erza.

Erza looked down at the Exceed in surprise, "Wait, you mean Natsu too?"

Happy nodded eagerly, covering his mouth with his paws as he giggled.

"Isn't that who _you_ were talking about?" Lucy peered over at Erza with interest.

"No, I was talking about Gray," Erza explained, "But if Natsu likes him too I see no reason why we shouldn't give them a little push. We are teammates, after all."

"More like they have no chance in hell of getting together on their own," Lucy snickered, and Happy joined in knowingly.

"What should we do?" Erza wondered aloud, knowing this wouldn't be simple. Both boys were prideful and stubborn, they couldn't just set them up on a blind date, or send them off on a mission and force them to share a room and hope for the best. No, they'd have to try something more creative. For this to work, they'd need to get them out of their comfort zones.

"I have it!" Mirajane exclaimed, making both girls jump in their seats. Where in the world had Mira even come from?

"What?" Mirajane grinned," You were about to matchmake, and you didn't think I'd want in?" Her eyes twinkled with excitement. "Here's what we'll do…"

Xxx

"Erza, why the hell did we have to get up so early? It's not even light out," Gray complained loudly. He hadn't even had a chance to have a cup of coffee. "Where are we going?"

"This will be fun!" Erza smiled, but something in her eyes made Gray think that whatever she was up to would be anything but. She'd been acting strangely the past few days, paying way more attention than usual to him and Natsu, and Lucy had been asking him lots of questions.

_Oh shit!_ There was no way they could know his secret, could they? He'd been so careful. His heart raced as he wondered what on Earth his friends could be up to and how much pain he could come to expect if he made a run for it while he still could.

They continued to walk in the dark until they reached an open field. There was a large object there. He didn't know what else to call it. It had a basket at its base that appeared to be tethered to a massive piece of fabric. It looked vaguely like some sort of enormous balloon as it lay flat on the ground behind it.

As soon as they arrived, the fabric began to fill with air. Within a few minutes, it was floating above the basket in all its brightly colored glory. Gray was starting to get a bad feeling about this. He noticed a man he didn't recognize walking around it, making adjustments and setting it up.

"Erza, what's going on, and what is that thing?"

"Why do you look so suspicious?" Erza tried to sound innocent, but she couldn't really pull it off, especially not when she was so clearly up to something.

"Erza?" Gray prodded.

"Fine, fine, if you don't want to be surprised, I'll tell you," Erza grinned, her eyes full of excitement as she looked at the contraption that Gray had already begun to call a death trap in his head.

"I thought we could do something fun as a team, so I went ahead and rented this hot air balloon and asked Mira to pack us a lunch. We're going to have a picnic!"

Gray studied her carefully for a few minutes before relaxing. Thank God! For a moment there he'd thought they meant to trap him in that thing with Natsu, but he could buy Erza wanting to have a picnic. She'd always wanted to have a proper one after all.

Now that he wasn't freaking out, Gray began to examine the hot air balloon, trying to understand how it worked. It was tethered to the ground, but the man had turned on some sort of fire source, and the giant balloon had finished inflating.

"You want to give it a go?" The man asked him with a shy smile, noticing his interest.

"Shouldn't we wait for the others?"

"Oh, you'll still be tethered, it will just give you an idea of how it feels," The man urged as he helped Gray get into the basket. "Have you ever flown before?"

"Only on a flying cat," Gray smirked at the man's bewildered expression before feeling the basket float up into the air.

It was a strange sensation, but he couldn't say he didn't like it. There was something that was bothering him about it, but Gray shrugged it off as he enjoyed the experience. He decided it would be more enjoyable without the loud noise the gas burner made as it heated up the air.

Movement... fire... loud…

_Oh crap!_

"Erza?" Gray called out urgently, but it seemed that his friend couldn't hear him over the burner. He motioned the operator to bring him down when he saw Natsu and Lucy had arrived.

Natsu seemed to be arguing with the girls, and Gray didn't have to listen in to know exactly what he was trying to say.

"I am _not _getting on that thing," Natsu roared angrily.

"Natsu," Erza glared at him, she was in no mood to have her plans disrupted, "You will get in that hot air balloon or else! Look, Gray is already in it, it's not scary at all."

"You think I'm scared to go on it?" Natsu gazed at her, perplexed that she could be so dense, "That has nothing to do with it, it's a vehicle."

"Nonsense, you don't get sick while flying," Erza reminded him, "You fly with Happy all the time, and you used to ride on Igneel."

"How many times do I have to tell you?" Natsu yelled, "Happy's not a vehicle, he's a friend!"

"ENOUGH!" Erza shrieked, punching him in the stomach in one quick move. Not quite enough to knock him out but enough to pick him up and dump him unceremoniously in the basket with Gray.

"Erza, this is a bad idea, we can have a picnic anywhere," Gray tried to reason with her but shut up as soon as he saw her eyes flash with anger.

Gray looked down at his rival with sympathy. Natsu lay in a crumpled heap at the bottom of the basket. He clutched his stomach and moaned.

Gray couldn't help himself, years of rivalry had conditioned him to see Natsu in a moment of weakness and seek out a way to capitalize on it.

"You're so pathetic, Ash for Brains," Gray sneered, poking Natsu with his foot.

_What are you doing?! _

"Gray, you're not helping." Erza grabbed the large picnic basket from the ground, handing it over to Gray to put inside the balloon's base. She wasn't overly concerned, this is how they communicated after all.

Natsu picked that moment to grab one of the sandbags that were littered on the floor and throw it weakly at Gray, who easily deflected it with the picnic basket, bouncing it out of the hot air balloon and onto the ground.

"No, don't take those out yet, " The operator protested, his tone urgent.

Unfortunately, Gray was having too much fun at the moment to pay heed to the man's words.

"Were you even trying to hit me?" Gray mocked Natsu, even as he saw the Fire Dragon Slayer grabbing other sandbags and throwing them at him. "You throw like a girl."

_Shut the fuck up, you dumbass! This right here is why you're going to die alone, not to mention incinerated._

Gray had already put the picnic basket down, so he calmly called forth an ice shield, smirking when the bags hit it dead center and continued to pour out of the basket.

The operator was getting more and more agitated, and Gray realized that he could feel the basket floating as it had earlier.

Natsu immediately made a retching sound, and Gray managed to lift him up, so he didn't vomit inside the base. He breathed a sigh of relief when Natsu vomited over the side. That was until he heard the unbridled rage in Erza's voice.

"Natsu Ignatius Dragneel!"

"Ignatius?!" Gray looked over at Natsu and started laughing hysterically.

"Shut up!"

"Oh shit!" Gray looked down and saw Erza covered in Natsu's vomit, and he quickly molded a sword and began hacking away at the rope that was tethering them to the ground.

"What are you doing?!" Natsu yelled as he felt the hot air balloon float higher in the air, "We're going higher, I want to get off this death trap!"

"Trust me, I did you a favor," Gray muttered, scouting the ground below them. They could still hear Erza shrieking, but at least she hadn't thought of requipping into one of her flying armors yet.

"Get me off this thing!"

"Listen, _Ignatius,_ you threw up all over Erza. If we had stayed down there, she would have killed both of us."

"You're joking, right?" Natsu looked at Gray hopefully, but the sheer panic on the other's face was enough to tell him he'd been serious.

He had another bout of nausea, and Gray once again pointed him outward. Once he was finished, Natsu tried to look around.

"We're just going higher and higher, how are we going to get off this thing?"

"Don't look at me," Gray shrugged, finally realizing that maybe this hadn't been the best idea. He began trying to figure out how the thing worked, wishing he'd thought to ask questions when he'd had the chance, "I have no idea how to fly this thing, I think that operator guy was supposed to come with us."

They had already drifted a fair distance from the field, the balloon moving swiftly in the cold morning air.

"Hey, Flame Brain, look over there!," Gray exclaimed, the awe in his voice unmistakable, making Natsu curious as to what he was talking about.

He moved slowly to see where Gray was pointing and was rewarded with the most beautiful sunrise he'd ever seen, peeking behind Mt. Hakobe. Natsu tried to appreciate it but was immediately assaulted by yet another bout of motion sickness.

"Graaay, I want to get off this thing now!" Natsu whined, getting desperate as the world spun around him.

"I'm working on it, the fire keeps us afloat I think," Gray hadn't finished the sentence before Natsu had already moved to eat all the fire.

They began to fall as the balloon deflated quickly.

"You idiot, I just said it was keeping us afloat, is that word too big for you?!" Gray shrieked in disbelief, "You're going to get us killed!"

"Oh, no," Natsu retched out the side, how he still had anything left in his stomach, Gray couldn't even fathom. "This is much worse, what do we do?"

"Put the fire back!" Gray screeched, beginning to panic as the speed of their descent increased now that they had achieved free fall.

"Stop yelling at me! I'll try," Natsu let out a putrid burp that reeked of eggs and propane. "Fire Dragon, Baaauurrrp! , Roar!"

The fabric the balloon had been made out of was no match for the infernal heat of Natsu's flames, it reduced to ashes on contact, and now they were falling even faster. They both screamed and wrapped their arms around each other.

"We're going to die!" Natsu yelled, and Gray tried to free himself from Natsu's death grip.

"Not if I can help it," Gray looked down to see what was awaiting them on the ground. They were careening toward some trees, but if they could make it past them, there was a field that would provide a safer spot to land, well... crash.

"Natsu, I need you to hold on to me okay? Just make sure I can still move my hands." Natsu's face looked green, but he nodded that he understood. Within seconds Gray could feel Natsu's arms wrap around him from behind as he also managed to hold on to the picnic basket, which given Natsu's appetite surprised Gray, not at all.

Gray got into his Ice-Make stance and waited as long as he could to see where they would end up. His heart was racing, both from Natsu's body being pressed tightly against him and the fear that they would both surely die if he wasn't able to time this right. As soon as they passed the last of the trees, he cast his spell.

"Ice-Make Cocoon"

"If you throw up on me, I swear I will kick you out of this cocoon and let you die, do you understand?"

Gray heard a labored grunt of assent and hoped for the best. He felt his ice cover them about five seconds before they crashed. The basket shattered all around them, but the ice protected them from it, and then they were slipping and sliding, their bodies spinning inside the cocoon until finally coming to a stop.

"Oy, Flame Brain," Gray called out, "Are you okay?"

When he received no response, Gray panicked. They were Gods know where with no easy way to find a healer. All he could hope for was that Erza and Lucy found them soon, and hopefully thought to bring Wendy with them.

He was still amazed that something so innocent could have gone so badly. Then again, who was he kidding, this type of thing seemed to happen when they were together. Maybe he was kidding himself that they could ever be anything more.

Gray dispelled his ice so that he could turn around and check on Natsu. His head was pounding, but Natsu had been behind him, absorbing most of the force of the initial impact.

Gray examined Natsu as best he could, deciding that despite a massive knot on the back of his head and bleeding from a few places, Natsu looked mostly alright and seemed to be breathing regularly.

Gray opened the picnic basket and grabbed the blanket that had been packed inside, spreading it out on the grass and carefully laying Natsu on top of it.

Glad that he'd managed to keep his shirt on for once, he took it off, shredding it into long strips he could use to stop the bleeding.

He looked around, trying to get his bearings. They were on a field he didn't recognize, but Natsu was the one who insisted on walking everywhere, maybe he'd know where they were once he woke up.

That hellish ride had felt like it had gone on forever but realistically how long could it have been? Twenty minutes? How far away from Magnolia could the wind have carried them in that time?

When another thirty minutes had passed without any response from Natsu, Gray began to fret. He sat down on the blanket and gently placed Natsu's head on his lap. He opened a water bottle, grabbed one of the strips of his shirt, and poured some water on it, setting about cleaning off the blood from Natsu's forehead. Gray sprinkled some water on his head as well, trying to get a better look at the wound.

It looked a little worse than he'd first thought, so he used his fingers to gently move Natsu's hair out of the way before calling on his ice to seal the wound.

Natsu moaned oddly, Gray couldn't quite tell whether it was from pain or something else.

"Oy, Flame Brain," Gray called again as he unconsciously continued to run his fingers through Natsu's hair, "Are you okay?"

"World is still spinning," Natsu muttered.

"It's really not, we crashed over half an hour ago."

"Tell that to my stomach," Natsu replied, but he opened his eyes slowly, blinking against the early morning sunlight and gazing straight into Gray's concerned eyes.

"Natsu, I think you might have a concussion, one of your pupils is much larger than the other, and you said you were dizzy."

Gray was troubled, if Natsu had a concussion it was going to be much harder to get back to the guild. "Do you have any other symptoms?"

"Stop worrying, Ice Princess, I've had much worse," Was all Natsu said before closing his eyes again. Then a moment later, "Mhhm, your fingers feel nice."

Gray stopped in mid-stroke, looking down at his hand, startled to see he'd never stopped caressing Natsu's hair. It was a much more intimate touch than anything he'd ever dared before, and his heart raced with the fear it would give him away.

"Don't stop, please?"

Gray debated for a second or two but then decided it wasn't like he hadn't been enjoying it as well. He let his fingers sink back into the soft locks and continued petting his rival.

"I can't remember the last time someone did that for me," Natsu said contentedly, "Might have been Gramps when I first got to the guild."

"What are you talking about? "

Natsu chuckled mirthlessly, "Have you met me? I'm loud and obnoxious, not to mention I destroy everything I touch. Who in their right mind would ever want to be close to me?"

_Me, you idiot! I'd like to be close to you. You're perfect for me. But... you're not acting like yourself, and I'm starting to wonder, just how hard did you hit your head?_

Gray was floored, he'd always thought that Natsu never thought about this stuff. It was one of the many reasons he'd never brought up his feelings, he'd assumed that Natsu would just laugh at him and humiliate him in front of the guild.

"Thank you, you can stop now if it makes you feel uncomfortable," Natsu's eyes were still closed, his lips stretched into a soft smile that tugged at Gray's heart.

"No, it's fine," Gray answered hurriedly, he wanted to see that smile on Natsu for as long as he could, before they invariably returned to their usual patterns.

"Actually, come to think of it you probably touch me more than anyone else," Natsu murmured thoughtfully, "Figures the one person who can't stand me would be the one to-"

_Great, he thinks I don't like him. Why can't I just tell him?!_

"That's not true, you know," Gray interrupted before Natsu could finish his thought, "I can stand you just fine."

"Doesn't seem like it most of the time," Natsu pointed out.

_Tell him!_

"I-I'm just confused by you, is all," Gray skirted ever closer to saying what his mind was screaming at him to confess.

"Why? If there's one thing that most people seem to agree on is that I'm simple."

"Seriously Natsu, are you fucking with me right now?"

"Huh?"

"Why are you talking like this?"

"My head is pounding, and I see no point in fighting. That's exactly how we get into these messes, we fight for the sake of fighting, and then bad stuff happens. Aren't you tired of it?"

Gray couldn't argue with that logic, but something still felt off. "Are you sure you're alright?"

Natsu chuckled, "If that's your way of asking me if I'm dying or something, I think I'm okay. It hurts like hell, but nothing seems to be broken. Anyway, I'll stop. You're right, it's strange for us to talk like this. I just thought-, nevermind."

He tried to get up from Gray's lap but soon fell back looking somewhat dazed, "We should probably figure out where we are and try to get back home."

"Natsu," Gray called out, he was going to do it, he was just going to tell him how he felt. There was never going to be a better chance than this. But to his great frustration, the words just wouldn't come out.

Natsu turned his head slowly, his mismatched eyes flashing with curiosity, but he turned away when Gray remained silent. He attempted to get up again but suddenly found his arm trapped by Gray's firm grip.

"Natsu," Gray repeated, and Natsu turned once again, looking down at his arm and then back up to Gray's face, still looking somewhat dazed, "I need to tell you something."

"What is it?"

"I-I like you like that," Gray said nervously still finding it hard to believe that Natsu not only thought about things like love but was sad because he had no one in his life that cared about him that way.

Gray could immediately tell from the puzzled expression on Natsu's face that he hadn't gotten it at all and he groaned.

_Why?_ Why was he doomed to be in love with someone who was this oblivious? It wasn't fair! Gray wished he could blame the damn concussion, but sadly, this was just the way Natsu was.

"Like me like what?" Natsu stared at him in confusion, but there was something else that Gray couldn't quite place in that gaze, regardless of how well he thought he knew the fire mage. He didn't let himself dwell on it, worried he'd chicken out if he did.

"Fine, I'll spell it out for you! _I_ want to be with you," Gray snapped in frustration, "_I_ want to be the one that gets to run my fingers through your hair, and hold your hand and all that crap. Do you get it now?"

Gray's heart sank when he saw Natsu's normally squinty eyes widen to almost comical size as he processed Gray's words. Here it comes, Gray thought, the teasing he'd been dreading. In 5-4-3-2-

"Oh," Natsu said quietly before bursting into the most beautiful smile Gray had ever seen, and he'd seen all of Natsu's smiles over the years. This was a new one.

"I want to be with you too," Natsu said simply, his cheeks flushing. "I was trying to tell you earlier, but you looked uhm uncomfortable."

Gray found that incredibly funny and he started to laugh, it was full of relief and amusement at their situation, and while Natsu watched him strangely, his smile never faltered.

He let Natsu sit up and opened the picnic basket to peer at its contents. "Do you feel up to eating? We should get some energy before trying to make it back to the guild."

"Not really, I'm kind of sleepy," Natsu answered before laying down on the blanket and closing his eyes.

"I don't think you're supposed to go to sleep with those symptoms," Gray placed some food on the blanket and ate silently, keeping an eye on Natsu and shaking him awake whenever he dozed off, much to the other's annoyance.

Gray was going to need lots of energy if he was to carry Natsu until he could walk for himself. He needed to get him to a healer.

"Oy, Flame Brain, do you recognize where we are?"

Natsu looked around and sniffed the air for a few minutes before replying, "I think Magnolia's that way."

Natsu pointed due east, and Gray let him attempt to walk on his own while he packed some food and the blanket, leaving the large basket behind. He picked Natsu up, relieved when the fire mage didn't fight him and carried him on his back for the long walk back.

They talked for hours, Gray trying his hardest to keep Natsu awake. Thankfully, Happy and Pantherlily found them and flew them back to the guild.

Xxx

"Are they back?" Erza asked, as soon as she and Lucy entered the guild later that evening. They had spent the day searching for their friends. When they'd finally stumbled upon the wreckage of the destroyed hot air balloon, they'd feared the worst.

Mira walked over to her, "Happy and Lily brought them in a few hours ago."

"Are they okay?" Erza held her breath, fearing the worst, but when she took in Mira's relaxed expression, she could feel her relief at their safety transforming into a rage as she remembered the state of the hot air balloon.

"Natsu has a nasty concussion, but Gray seems to be okay, just tired," Mira reported with a smile, "Seems he carried Natsu most of the way back."

"Gray Uriel Fullbuster, you have a lot of explaining to do!" Erza screamed from the bottom of the stairs.

"Shh, you'll wake them," Mira glared at her, "Besides I think you'll want to see this."

Erza and Lucy followed Mira up the stairs to the infirmary, curious to see what Mira was talking about. She opened the door gently so that Lucy and Erza could peek in. They were greeted by the sight of Natsu and Gray sharing a bed.

Natsu lay on his side, his head resting on Gray's chest, their hands clasped together as they slept peacefully. The girls closed the door quietly behind them, letting the boys get some rest.

"I can't believe it, they managed to get together on their own," Lucy muttered in amazement.

"What's the matter Erza? " Mira commented when she noticed Erza's crestfallen expression. "You look disappointed, I thought you'd be happy."

Erza was delighted for her teammates, she really was. Natsu and Gray were like siblings to her, and she was thrilled that they'd finally been honest with each other. Seeing them being so softly intimate brought a smile to her face. It really did, it was just...

"We never got to do all the stuff we planned, and once again, my picnic plans were ruined."

"We'll just have to plan another one," Mira replied cheerfully, "Maybe something less involved next time?"

The girls made their way back downstairs, choosing to keep what they now knew about their two friends a secret until they decided to tell everyone else.

Upstairs, Natsu burst into giggles, "_Uriel_? Your middle name is Uriel?"

"Shut it, they're going to hear us, and Erza's still pissed."

Natsu smirked, "Make me."

"Gladly," And with that Gray leaned down and captured Natsu's lips with his own, catching the Fire Dragon Slayer by surprise. There was an initial resistance which Gray wanted to chalk up to habit, but it was immediately replaced by the unmistakable feeling of Natsu's lips responding enthusiastically against his, and Gray felt joy, unlike anything he'd ever experienced before.

Gray wasn't new to kissing, although, before that day, it had always been motivated by curiosity, rather than affection. He wasn't sure he could ever go back to that, not now that he knew how it felt to share something so intimate with someone he loved.

Still, that resistance set off a warning bell in Gray's mind. This peace they were feeling, it wasn't going to last forever. He and Natsu weren't usually like this. No, this was the calm before the storm, and he knew it.

Gray's confession had only been made possible by Natsu's odd behavior due to his concussion, combined with the rush of adrenaline from a shared near-death moment.

He and Natsu related to each other in terms of violence and challenges. They were destined to clash as the opposing forces they were. The sprinkling of qualities Gramps instilled in all of them as they grew up were the only things that kept them from seriously hurting each other.

What they had started on this day, it wouldn't be easy, but it was reason enough for him to enjoy it in its purest form. He'd been given a glimpse of what they could become if they could manage to get over their pride and stubbornness.

Gray was confident he could rise to that challenge because as he watched Natsu cuddle up to him before drifting off to sleep yet again, he already knew there was nowhere else he wanted to be.

A/N: I had something else written for this prompt, the first chapter for the multi-chaper fic Anyone Who Had a Heart, but it felt odd to have that be the entry for Gratsu Week since only Natsu appears in that chapter.

So this was born out of guilt, lol. It's quite ridiculous, but I hope you like it. I would not want to be in Natsu's shoes if he threw up on Erza. Also thanks to AkikoNatsuko for coming up with Uriel for Gray's middle name!


End file.
